More news items to discuss from the many news reports in the summer issue of ARTIFAX, the biblical archaeology news magazine. Ziklag, a city associated with King David, has been tentatively identified at a dozen different locations in Israel but now finally we have the correct location, says archaeology Yosef Garfinkel. (Other archaeologists are not so sure.)
More mosaic discoveries in this summer's excavations at Huqoq, at the site of a fifth century synagogue overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The mosaics depict the Exodus spring of Elim, and the four beasts of Daniel 7.
We also discuss a photo from professsor Carl Rasmussen, showing a first century thermopolia, a fast food establishment excavated at Pompeii. In the first century this is where people got their food because they didn't have kitchens in their high rise apartments.

Silver amulet scrolls found in a 1979 excavation at Ketef Hinnom, the Shoulder of Hinnom, in Jerusalem rank in the top 10 archaeological discoveries of Israel, according to a recent article in Haaretz newspaper. Ketef Hinnom overlooks the Hinnom Valley and, on the other side, the walled Old City of Jerusalem. And according to the Times of Israel, it is the site of a new Jerusalem city park.
With those two articles fresh in my mind, I dug into The Book & The Spade archives to recover the 1983 interview with archaeologist Gabby Barkay, one of our first guests during the first year that our program was on the air. He told the story of the Ketef Hinnom excavation and the discovery of the silver amulet scrolls.

Silver amulet scrolls found in a 1979 excavation at Ketef Hinnom, the Shoulder of Hinnom, in Jerusalem rank in the top 10 archaeological discoveries of Israel, according to a recent article in Haaretz newspaper. Ketef Hinnom overlooks the Hinnom Valley and, on the other side, the walled Old City of Jerusalem. And according to the Times of Israel, it is the site of a new Jerusalem city park.
With those two articles fresh in my mind, I dug into The Book & The Spade archives to recover the 1983 interview with archaeologist Gabby Barkay, one of our first guests during the first year that our program was on the air. He told the story of the Ketef Hinnom excavation and the discovery of the silver amulet scrolls.

It may take years before we know what was the most important Biblical Archaeology discovery of 2018, but every year I try to identify 10 of the top stories of Biblical Archaeology that were reported on during the year just past, some involving discoveries from many years ago.
For instance, our top item, a ring with Pilate's seal, was actually discovered in the 1960s but not identified until 2018. And the statue head of the ancient king, our #2 discovery, was found in 2017 but didn't create news until it was put on display in the Israel Museum in 2018.

Digging deep into our archives from the early days of TB&TS, we pulled out this description of the city of Athens as Paul would have seen it during his visit, described in Acts 17. Professor John McRay uses archaeology and textual research to help us understand how that ancient city would have appeared in the first century of the Christian era.
Professor McRay was a professor at Wheaton College at the time of this presentation, he taught there from 1980 to 2002. We were saddened to learn that professor McRay passed away just last August, he was 86. He is the author of several books, including Paul: His Life and Teaching and Archaeology and the New Testament, and coauthor of Bible Archaeology, all published by Baker.